To invest in vice can be a sound financial decision, but despite the
lure of healthy profits, individuals and mutual funds have been reluctant
to invest in this type of stock. After all, who would take pride in
supporting the tobacco industry, knowing it sells a deadly product?
And what social responsibilities do investors bear with respect to
compulsive gamblers who have lost so much money that suicide becomes
an attractive option?

Canada the Good considers more than five hundred years of debates
and regulation that have conditioned Canadians’ attitudes towards
certain vices. Early European settlers implemented a Christian moral
order that regulated sexual behaviour, gambling, and drinking. Later,
some transgressions were diagnosed as health issues that required
treatment. Those who refused the label of illness argued that behaviours
formerly deemed as vices were within the range of normal human behaviour.

This historical synthesis demonstrates how moral regulation has changed
over time, how it has shaped Canadians’ lives, why some debates
have almost disappeared and others persist, and why some individuals
and groups have felt empowered to tackle collective social issues.
Against the background of the evolution of the state, the enlargement
of the body politic, and mounting forays into court activism, the
author illustrates the complexity over time of various forms of social
regulation and the control of vice.